Reddit’s Battlefield 5 community bans ‘historical accuracy’ arguments
“No, you’re not sexists or whatever, but this is just repetitive now.”
For weeks, Reddit's r/Battlefield community has been flooded by debates, memes, arguments and discussions about the next game in the franchise -- but community moderators are fed up with posts about one topic in particular: historical accuracy. Or, more specifically, how Battlefield 5's character customization options and single-player campaign mode will allow players to play as women on the front lines of World War II.
Now, those discussions are over, at least on r/Battlefield. One of the community's moderators posted a new thread today banning the topic.
"We're done. It's over. New Rule: No more bitching about historical accuracy, it's a game, not a history book," the announcement reads.
For the community, the decision is about maintaining order. Threads arguing about historical accuracy, women on the front lines and character customization have dominated the community's front page for weeks. Moderators also say the subreddit has suffered from "brigading," a practice that trolls use to flood threads with false downvotes to stifle discussion.
The already volatile situation was likely exacerbated by EA's chief creative officer, Patrick Soderlund, who threw his hands up at the backlash during an interview with Gamasutra at E3 2018.
"Listen, this is a game. And today gaming is gender-diverse. You have two choices: either accept it, or don't buy the game. I'm fine with either or," he said.
By the time E3 2018 reached its final day, the moderators of r/Battlefield had seen enough.
"This issue has been discussed in a million threads but we've never been brigaded more than we have in the past months." /r/Battlefield moderator /u/sloth_on_meth told the community. "We can only keep up with so much. We're done wasting our time on this, every point has been made. No, you're not sexists or whatever, but this is just repetitive now."
Naturally, the new rule is sparking its own controversy in the community. Many are outraged at having any kind of censorship of discussion -- arguing that even if Battlefield games aren't history books, they're historical by nature.
Others support the ban, forging new memes to support Sloth's efforts to divert the community away from repetitive and uncivil discussions.
Others still hung their hat on a tried-and-true joke -- pointing out that Battlefield games haven't been historically accurate for ages. but nobody cared in the last game because most of the community just doesn't know that much about the first World War.
Either way, the leaders of the community have made their decision. To end the multiple, repetitive debate and arguments, Sloth made one final megathread for discussing historical accuracy and customization, asking users who want to say their peace to keep it civil. Any further discussion after that will face consequences.
"Hate us all you want but we're done with this bullshit."
E3 2018: Everything you need to know
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